#7 is nice enough at full size, but just doesn't really work as an icon. Again, a simple test of suitability for an icon is to shrink it down really really small and see if it still looks distinctive, and ideally still sort of be able to tell what's going on in it. Imagine using them as favicons, which are 16 x 16... The only ones that work at all at that size are #3 and #6, and to a lesser extent #1.

I'm curious what you're going for with all these variations. They're all pretty drastically different from each other, with the exception of #3 and #6. Are none of them satisfactory enough to iterate on them rather than producing entirely new artwork?

Take a quick glance at this image (no more than 10 seconds), starting with your eye in the center and just let it wander. Which icons catch your eye first?

Row 2 columns 1 and 4, row 4 col 2, row 6 col 5?

Did you even notice at first that two of your icons are in there?

Simple, iconic, easily recognizable, and bright will make your icon stand out against a bunch of others. A lot of the icons for games in the app store are overly detailed and dark. It's not a surprise that many of the top paid games have simple and clear eye-catching icons.

Seth, that's awesome. I'd love to see that exercise as some sort of automated tool that sticks your icon in a grid of icons from the top 200 and maybe even tracks how fast you can locate and click your icon among them.

As for the new icon, AR, I find I still prefer #3. I feel like that one would pop out in that grid quite nicely.

(Oct 10, 2012 10:33 AM)ThemsAllTook Wrote: I'm curious what you're going for with all these variations. They're all pretty drastically different from each other, with the exception of #3 and #6. Are none of them satisfactory enough to iterate on them rather than producing entirely new artwork?

Thanks for such valid comments, we'll certainly take this into account.
The point is that our artists have lots of creative ideas in mind, and we're willing to share these ideas with you and to find out what you think. That's why they come up with more variants

(Oct 10, 2012 11:52 AM)SethWillits Wrote: Take a quick glance at this image (no more than 10 seconds), starting with your eye in the center and just let it wander. Which icons catch your eye first?

Wow, thanks!
Indeed, the icons that you listed seem to be the most eye-catching.
Ok, we'll work on our ones further.

(Oct 10, 2012 03:43 PM)JustinFic Wrote: As for the new icon, AR, I find I still prefer #3. I feel like that one would pop out in that grid quite nicely.

And yes, #3 is the one to go with out of the options shown. But it does seem pretty busy... simplify, simplify. And repeat the exercise Seth did until your icon pops out as much as those top-selling ones.